Ryan Giles Wins One For The Home Team On Night #1 Of Knoxville 360 Nationals

Story By: BILL WRIGHT / KNOXVILLE RACEWAY – KNOXVILLE, IA – Knoxville regular Ryan Giles led wire to wire on Dingus Lounge Qualifying Night #1 of the 29th Annual MyPlace Hotels Knoxville 360 Nationals presented by Great Southern Bank.

The Grimes, Iowa native’s ninth career win at Knoxville and first with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by MavTV earned him $3,000. Dusty Zomer was the high point earner for the night heading into Saturday’s finale, followed by Aaron Reutzel and Wayne Johnson (points below results).

Giles early lead in the 20-lapper came ahead of Thomas Kennedy, Rob Kubli, Johnson and Trey Starks. Zomer thrust himself into the top five by lap four, but he was overtaken by Reutzel on lap seven. A spin by Lee Grosz eight laps in brought the first caution. Thirteenth running Dominic Scelzi had a right rear tire explode at the same time.

Giles led Kennedy, Kubli, Johnson and Reutzel back to green. Kubli’s restart was a rocky one as Zomer and Johnson went to the outside and inside of him in turn two. Kubli got over the turn three cushion, came back off of it and had contact with Reutzel, sending him into the wall and ending his night. Calvin Landis would spin on that restart, negating a move from fourth to second by Reutzel.

Johnson claimed second on yet another restart, while Reutzel took third from Kennedy on lap 14. Giles was back in lapped traffic with three to go, while Reutzel took second from Johnson. Giles was coming for the checkers, but the caution flew one last time for Grosz, setting up a green, white, checker finish.

Giles was able to hold onto the win, ahead of Reutzel, Johnson, Eliason and Kennedy. Justin Henderson, Zomer, Carson McCarl, hard-charger Parker Price-Miller and Sam Hafertepe Jr. rounded out the top ten. Zomer set quick time over the 42-car field, and Devon Dobie, Kennedy, Mason Daniel, Jack Dover and Henderson won heat races, and Price-Miller claimed the B main.

“I could have done without any of them,” Giles said of the restarts in Victory Lane. “I have to give a big shout out to my wife. She’s six months pregnant with our baby girl, and she was in the hospital this morning. I felt like I abandoned her and had to work all day. She told me to go have fun, so…this one’s for her. I definitely have to thank Gary Isom. This is all his deal.”

“The guys did a great job,” said Reutzel. “We were really good on long runs. I knew unless (Giles) made a big mistake, we wouldn’t be able to get him. We got lucky there with that one caution (lap eight restart). I don’t even know what happened on that deal. There was one big cluster of people and I drove across the track and I guess made contact. It was a racing deal.”

“We had a really good racecar,” said Johnson. “It’s unfortunate that I got by Kennedy on that restart, and the thing started blowing up. We finished this thing on seven cylinders. I was pretty excited just to finish. To take third and be pretty good in points for Saturday night…we have another fresh bullet we can put in. Hopefully, we’ll have all eight cylinders on Saturday.”

The 29th Annual MyPlace Hotels Knoxville 360 Nationals presented by Great Southern Bank continues Thursday on Night #2 with Iowa Corn Growers Night!

Results from Night #1 of the MyPlace Hotels Knoxville 360 Nationals presented by Great Southern Bank

Time Trials (Qualifying Order), 2 laps: 1. 5, Dusty Zomer, Brandon, SD (9), 16.267; 2. 4J, Lee Grosz, Harwood, ND (1), 16.336; 3. 70, Calvin Landis, Knoxville, IA (7), 16.338; 4. 15H, Sam Hafertepe Jr., Sunnyvale, TX (23), 16.338; 5. 44S, Trey Starks, Puyallup, WA (4), 16.449; 6. 71P, Parker Price-Miller, Kokomo, IN (6), 16.541; 7. 87, Aaron Reutzel, Clute, TX (28), 16.585; 8. 11X, Sammy Swindell, Lakeland, TN (36), 16.593; 9. 5J, Jamie Ball, Knoxville, IA (29), 16.601; 10. 2C, Wayne Johnson, Tuttle, OK (25), 16.685; 11. J2, John Carney II, El Paso, TX (21), 16.722; 12. 21K, Thomas Kennedy, Winnipeg, MB, Can. (38), 16.725; 13. 83, Rob Kubli, Milo, IA (18), 16.729; 14. 9, Ryan Giles, Grimes, IA (41), 16.748; 15. 18, Ryan Roberts, Aurora, NE (14), 16.748; 16. 26, Cory Eliason, Visalia, CA (22), 16.779; 17. 27, Carson McCarl, Altoona, IA (26), 16.790; 18. 44, Chris Martin, Ankeny, IA (35), 16.800; 19. 1K, Kelby Watt, Adel, IA (5), 16.813; 20. 83H, Justin Henderson, Tea, SD (42), 16.814; 21. 23D, Devon Dobie, Wapakoneta, OH (20), 16.815; 22. 3P, Sawyer Phillips, Pleasantville, IA (15), 16.859; 23. 33M, Mason Daniel, Springfield, CA (17), 16.875; 24. 1, Travis Rilat, Heath, TX (27), 16.886; 25. 35L, Cody Ledger, Omaha, NE (8), 16.909; 26. 41S, Dominic Scelzi, Fresno, CA (24), 16.913; 27. 94, Jeff Swindell, Bartlett, TN (32), 16.913; 28. 99, Brady Bacon, Broken Arrow, OK (33), 16.916; 29. 53D, Jack Dover, Springfield, NE (40), 16.965; 30. 76, Brad Comegys, Bondurant, IA (13), 16.971; 31. 66, Ricky Montgomery, Lakewood, CO (39), 16.989; 32. 45, Rusty Hickman, Tullamarine, VIC, Aust. (3), 17.037; 33. 53, Joe Beaver, Knoxville, IA (11), 17.058; 34. 81E, Eric Bridger, Winterset, IA (34), 17.062; 35. 3B, Spencer Bayston, Lebanon, IN (2), 17.076; 36. 22, Ryan Leavitt, Knoxville, IA (10), 17.080; 37. 1CB, Chelsea Blevins, Janesville, CA (19), 17.234; 38. 33, Alan Zoutte, Knoxville, IA (37), 17.379; 39. 64C, Casey Greubel, Lacona, IA (31), 17.409; 40. 2D, Dusty Ballenger, Harrisburg, SD (16), 17.443; 41. 37H, Nicholas Howard, Lawrence, KS (30), 17.513; 42. 2K, Kevin Ingle, Huron, SD (12), 18.153

Heat one (started), 8 Laps, 2:15.3: 1. Devon Dobie (2); 2. Cory Eliason (3); 3. Dominic Scelzi (1); 4. Dusty Zomer (6) / 5. John Carney II (4); 6. Ricky Montgomery (7); 7. Parker Price-Miller (5); 8. Nicholas Howard (9); 9. Ryan Leavitt (8)

Heat two (started), 8 Laps, NT: 1. Thomas Kennedy (4); 2. Carson McCarl (3); 3. Jeff Swindell (1); 4. Aaron Reutzel (5) / 5. Sawyer Phillips (2); 6. Lee Grosz (6); 7. Rusty Hickman (7); 8. Chelsea Blevins (8); 9. Kevin Ingle (9)

Heat three (started), 8 Laps, 2:18.3: 1. Mason Daniel (2); 2. Brady Bacon (1); 3. Rob Kubli (4); 4. Chris Martin (3) / 5. Calvin Landis (6); 6. Sammy Swindell (5); 7. Alan Zoutte (7); DNS – Joe Beaver

Heat four (started), 8 Laps, 2:17.4: 1. Jack Dover (1); 2. Sam Hafertepe Jr. (6); 3. Ryan Giles (4); 4. Travis Rilat (2); 5. Jamie Ball (5); 6. Kelby Watt (3); 7. Casey Greubel (8); 8. Eric Bridger (7)

Heat five (started), 8 Laps, 2:19.3: 1. Justin Henderson (3); 2. Wayne Johnson (5); 3. Brad Comegys (1); 4. Trey Starks (6); 5. Cody Ledger (2); 6. Ryan Roberts (4); 7. Spencer Bayston (7); 8. Dusty Ballenger (8)

B main (started), 12 Laps, NT: 1. Parker Price-Miller (3); 2. Lee Grosz (1); 3. Calvin Landis (2); 4. Sawyer Phillips (9) / 5. Spencer Bayston (13); 6. Kelby Watt (8); 7. Ryan Roberts (7); 8. Cody Ledger (10); 9. John Carney II (6); 10. Rusty Hickman (12); 11. Ricky Montgomery (11); 12. Eric Bridger (14); 13. Dusty Ballenger (17); 14. Sammy Swindell (4); 15. Alan Zoutte (15); 16. Nicholas Howard (19); 17. Kevin Ingle (20); 18. Casey Greubel (18); 19. Chelsea Blevins (16); 20. Jamie Ball (5) DNS – 21. Joe Beaver; 22. Ryan Leavitt

A main (started), 21 Laps, NT: 1. Ryan Giles (1); 2. Aaron Reutzel (5); 3. Wayne Johnson (4); 4. Cory Eliason (9); 5. Thomas Kennedy (3); 6. Justin Henderson (12); 7. Dusty Zomer (8); 8. Carson McCarl (10); 9. Parker Price-Miller (21); 10. Sam Hafertepe Jr. (7); 11. Jeff Swindell (17); 12. Brady Bacon (18); 13. Mason Daniel (14); 14. Travis Rilat (15); 15. Chris Martin (11); 16. Jack Dover (19); 17. Sawyer Phillips (24); 18. Lee Grosz (22); 19. Devon Dobie (13); 20. Brad Comegys (20); 21. Calvin Landis (23); 22. Trey Starks (6); 23. Dominic Scelzi (16); 24. Rob Kubli (2). Lap Leader: Giles 1-21. Hard-charger: Price-Miller.

Thursday Point Totals

Pos Car Driver Points
1 5 Dusty Zomer 479
2 87 Aaron Reutzel 477
3 2C Wayne Johnson 475
4 15H Sam Hafertepe Jr. 473
5 21K Thomas Kennedy 470
6 9 Ryan Giles 468
7 26 Cory Eliason 461
8 71P Parker Price-Miller 456
9 83H Justin Henderson 452
10 27 Carson McCarl 451
11 4J Lee Grosz 449
12 70 Calvin Landis 444
13 44S Trey Starks 441
14 33M Mason Daniel 432
15 44 Chris Martin 429
16 23D Devon Dobie 424
17 83 Rob Kubli 424
18 94 Jeff Swindell 422
19 99 Brady Bacon 421
20 1 Travis Rilat 419
21 53D Jack Dover 414
22 3P Sawyer Phillips 414
23 J2 John Carney II 402
24 41S Dominic Scelzi 400
25 76 Brad Comegys 398
26 18 Ryan Roberts 395
27 11X Sammy Swindell 395
28 1K Kelby Watt 389
29 5J Jamie Ball 384
30 35L Cody Ledger 376
31 3B Spencer Bayston 356
32 66 Ricky Montgomery 355
33 45 Rusty Hickman 352
34 81E Eric Bridger 341
35 33 Alan Zoutte 330
36 2D Dusty Ballenger 327
37 53 Joe Beaver 325
38 64C Casey Greubel 322
39 1CB Chelsea Blevins 321
40 37H Nicholas Howard 319
41 22 Ryan Leavitt 314
42 2K Kevin Ingle 312